Mission Statement

Mission Statement

The UCCS Police Department will serve our community by protecting life, liberty, property, and defending the constitutional rights of all people with compassion, fairness, integrity, and professionalism.  

Vision Statement

The UCCS Police Department will provide the highest quality police services to our community and partner with our community to identify and resolve problems.  We will constantly evaluate and improve our efforts to enhance public safety and improve the quality of life for all members of the UCCS community.

We will fulfill this vision by being efficient, innovative, and progressive in our mission to keep the UCCS campus safe and conducive to learning. We will do this with empathy, compassion, and a conscientious respect for the diverse community we serve.  We will execute our duties in an impartial, ethical, and professional manner.  We will strive to promote a culture of inclusiveness, respect, communication, and understanding in all that we do.

Core Values

Professionalism:  We strive for excellence in our dedication to duty and our quality of service by adhering to the highest standards of the police profession.

Integrity:  We exhibit honesty and character through ethical conduct and moral behavior in our personal and professional lives.

Compassion:  We treat every person with respect, and we demonstrate an empathetic understanding in our efforts to serve them.

Accountability: We hold ourselves accountable for our performance and conduct; individually, to each other, our department, our government, and our UCCS Community.

Guardianship:  We hold ourselves accountable to protecting and defending the rights and well-being of the entire UCCS community.

Inclusiveness: We know that every person, especially persons of differing religious backgrounds, ethnicities and sexual orientations, possesses valuable insight and leadership potential through their diverse experience and that experience is celebrated and valued.

Statement of Services

The following information describes the services we provide to the University community.

Police and Security

Police operations functions to serve and respond to the needs of a diverse community with fairness and mutual respect in a spirit of caring for the community, recognizing the special responsibility we have toward victims of crime and those who are injured.

Police services provides the following services:

1. crime prevention information programs and service to systematically detour, deny, and detect criminal opportunity;
2. round-the-clock response to emergency and non-emergency situations relating to the safety and security of people and property associated with the University;
3. documentation of criminal activity and certain defined noncriminal incidents as required by law and administrative policy, and follow-up where deemed worthwhile or necessary;
4. preventive and directed uniform patrol by vehicle or foot to lessen criminal activity and to assist people generally;
5. locking and unlocking of designated University buildings, and security guard patrols of campus grounds and buildings;
6. assistance to individuals with special needs which include, but are not limited to, unlocking office doors, unlocking car doors, pushing stalled vehicles, delivering emergency messages, giving directions, providing "jump-starts";
7. making arrests, collecting evidence, writing citations, providing information for prosecution and testifying in court.

Environmental Safety

Environmental Safety serves to promote a safe academic and occupational environment through:

1. management, control and disposal of hazardous materials;
2. inspection and maintenance of campus fire safety prevention/protection equipment;
3. conduct safety surveys of university facilities, equipment, and work areas to apply applicable procedures, practices and regulations;
4. maintain records, files, documentation and references relating to the operation of environmental health safety; and
5. provide emergency response to chemical/hazardous materials spills and safety incidents.

Major Emergency

This category is defined by extraordinary events which demand police presence to maintain order, or police expertise to investigate and coordinate. Some of the situations which call for police response in this area include political or issue related demonstrations, hazardous material spills, fires, floods, suicides, homicides, or a series of unsolved serious crimes.

Participation in the development and testing of plans designed to preserve life and property in the event of major emergency or disaster;

Provide communications equipment, support systems and technical skills to assist in the coordination of the various agencies involved;

Provide systems for access to a variety of resources, including equipment and personnel by call-out procedures, depending on the needs of the emergency;

Investigative follow-up to define the criminal or noncriminal nature of an incident and to arrive at conclusions as to cause;

Maintenance of order through crowd and traffic control in situations where threatened by demonstrations or disrupted by accidental or natural disaster.

Advisory

The Department of Public Safety serves to keep the public informed of matters of joint concern that are threats to the mission of the University.

Provide security surveys recommending types and placement of alarm systems, as well as other security measures including cash control and physical modifications for security purposes.

Conduct background checks to assist employers in hiring decisions.

Offer instruction through classes or meetings in crime/safety trends and suggested actions which may tend to reduce or prevent specific crimes/incidents, such as sex assaults and burglaries.

Routinely supply the media with information within the legal right of the public to possess and, in the event of special circumstances, inform the community of conditions and hazards.

Develop and offer statistics concerning crimes and safety incidents affecting decisions relating to criminal activity, administrative policy and disciplinary actions.

Maintain liaison with the District Attorney's office and other law enforcement agencies to assist as consultant and negotiator in criminal matters affecting the enforcement of law on campus.

Special Events

A special event is a planned University sponsored or sanctioned function in which the police become involved at the request of the sponsor or on their own initiative to promote safety and order during the event. Examples of special events include concerts, parties, athletic events, Programming Board speaker series, and occasionally V.I.P. s or controversial speakers and celebrities.

Participate in the planning of large, complex events and assume responsibility for providing adequate police and security staffing;

Deployment of police and security personnel for purposes of crowd and traffic control;

Upon approved request, assign officers to money guard, money escort and peacekeeping duties;

Collect background information where applicable and coordinate with other law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of V.I.P. visitors, celebrities, or controversial personalities.

While the above listed services are not all inclusive, the five categories of service identified are generally representative of the range of services provided by the Department of Public Safety. The vast majority of the services listed are provided by the department as a function of its continuing base budget. Several of the services